Kodi Movie Review, Rating, Story and Verdict

There is nothing wrong in using a formulaic template for a masala drama with a good tale as long as the movie keeps the viewers engaged. But the audience nowadays are so used to these kind of movies that they can smell these formulas five minutes into the movie. That’s what exactly happened to most of the people in the cinema hall in which I was watching Kodi. Ten minutes into the movie and I heard the guy behind me murmur “Fight vandhachu, Paatu vandhaachu, aprom vera enna heroine ah?” and that’s when we had Anupama and Trisha enter in subsequent frames.

Not sure if Durai Senthil Kumar has thought this through, but apart from this formulas which covers almost the entire first half we feel that there is a story lurking only towards the interval sequence. The twist in the interval sequence was surprising and un predictable indeed.

For the first time we have a female lead playing a character apart from the Loosu Ponnu template. The character of Trisha is so fresh and well written. Rudhra is unflinching. But only flaw in Rudhra’s character sketch is accepting Trisha. There is a scene where she catches a snake when she is with Dhanush and he acts as if it is a normal way of romancing and playing for them. The scene impresses, Dhanush does too, but trisha doesn’t. For the most part, even in very important scenes, we see Trisha trying to act, but all we get are a couple of reactions which we have seen again and again throughout her filmography. This character is nothing like any of the characters in her filmography and that is what has made the difference.

This is a story about twins and so obviously we have two heroines, the other one here being Anupama Parameshwaran playing / filling the void of loosu ponnu here. But after a couple of scenes we get that she is not actually loosu ponnu but has got something in the story as well. But that feeling gets dozed off immediately.

Dhanush has lived both his characters and is convincing in the dual role, but the CG effects in most of the scenes looks childish. The screenplay does look racy when one twin takes over the other and in the story that ensues. The director has decided to give the change over an explanation in medical terms which is convincing again. These masala moments score again with perfect background music from Santhosh Narayanan. These scenes give the hype that is most required for a masala movie to survive.

When Dhanush uses his brain instead of GPS to locate a person who spoke to him just on the phone, reminds us of Hari. Although the story convinces us and makes us forget the commercial formula, towards the end when the fight is staged in the same old factory which forms the cause for the entire turbulence we feel the comeback of the formula again. The audience are so trained that even before the scene starts they seem to know the end. But apart from the cliches Kodi is staged well to fly high.

With the characters sketched this deep, had the screenplay been more coherent, we would have got a movie of the decade. Not in every movie of Tamil cinema do we get the female lead so out of the box, instead the characters this haunting are wasted again in the same old commercial drama. Instead of a gripping tale with interesting characters to play with, the director decides to settle for the most tried template that has proved success since time existence.